Drilling machine



Jan. 2, 1934.

G. HEINISH ET AL 1,941,894

DRILLING MACHINE Filed Jan. 24, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOH GeorgeHQiHiSh BY & L80 A. Krupp ATTORNEYS Jan. 2,, 1934. G HE|N|$H ET AL1,941,894

DRILLING MACHINE Filed Jan. 24, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet '4 INVENTOR GeorgeHannah & Leo I\.Krupp ATTORNEYEI u 7 19 secured to the girders 10 of themachine.

Patented Jan. 2, 193% SE A EES PATENT? @FFHQE DRELLING MACHINEcorporation of Ohio Application Zv'anuary 24, 1931. Serial No. 510,916

1 Claim.

This invention relates to well drilling rigs or machines of the usualmobile type in common use for drilling oil and gas wells or blastingholes, and chief objects of the invention are to avoid wea" on the drillrope during the spudding o1 ration; to distribute the drilling strainequa l on both sides of the machine; to absorb the drilling shock of thedrill rope during spu ding; and to effect level or uniform winding ofthe drill rope on the bull reel.

Of the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a drilling machine embodying theinvention in its preferred form, a part of the machine including thepower plant being broken away;

Figure 2 is a sectional plan view on a larger scale on the line 2-2 ofFigure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view on a larger scale on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a detail side elevation on a larger scale of an improvedpitman constituting a part of the machine; and

Figure 5 is a defail side elevation of a modified pitrnan structure.

'= lerring to the drawings, the machine is of o frame constructioncomprising two longitudinal beams or girders 1G, connected at suitableintervals by crossirders, such as that shown at ll, Figures 2 and 3.Suitable brackets 12, are mounted on the under side of the girders 1eand carry the axles for the several sets of ground-wheels l3, 18 whichcarry the machine, the axles also serving to space and stiffen themachine frame.

Risi from each side girder 10 at the front end of the machine (the rightend as viewed in the drawings) are respective upright-s or standards 14,14 which carry respective brackets l5, 15 at their upper said bracketsbeing connected by a or 16 which serves as a cross- ;race for theuprights and also serves as a fuln shaft for mast l? which is supportedeupon by means of G-c1amps l3, 18. The .prighis 1.4. also are braced byrespective props The mast 1'7 comprises two lateral members 17 1'? whichare suitably cross-braced, and taper toward each other at their upperends wherein a grooved sheave or pulley 26 is journaled. A suitablepillow-block 21 is provided for the base of the mast when it is inupright position.

Rising from each side girder 19 adjacent the rear of the machine arerespective uprights or standards 22, 22 which are braced by suitableprops 23 from the machine frame and carry at their upper ends astationary bar or fulcrum shaft 24 which is secured to the uprights 22by suitable clamps 25, 25. Pivotally mounted upon the end portions ofthe shaft 24, outside the uprights 22, is a spudder 26 comprisinglongitudinal girders 26 26 and cross girders 26 26 The free ends of thegirders 26 are positioned beside the uprights 14 and engage suitablewearplates 27 thereupon, the arrangement assuring lateral stability ofthe spudder.

For oscillating the spudder 26 upon its pivot 24, a transverse bar orfixed shaft 28 is disposed transversely of the spudder and secured tothe respective girders 26 adjacent the free ends thereof, and pivotallyconnected to the end portions of said bar 28 are respeotivepitmans 29,29 which have their other ends connected to the crank pins of respectivecranks 30, 30 mounted upon the opposite ends of a driven shaft 31 whichis suitably journaled upon the girders 10 transversely of the machine.For driving the shaft 31, a pulley 32 is mounted thereon and connectedby a transmission belt 33 with a pulley 34 journaled on a countershaft35, said pulley 34 being provided with one member 66 of a suitableclutch subsequently to be described. The countershaft 35 is providedwith a sprocket 36 which is connected by a sprocket chain 37 with asuitable power unit (not shown).

In order to absorb the drilling shock of the drill rope and thus toavoid vibration and jolting of the machine, there is provided a yieldingconnection between the fixed shaft 28 and the respective pitmans 29, theconstruction of which is best shown in Figure 4. That end of each pitman29 which engages the fixed shaft 28 is provided with a pair of parallelguide-rods 38, 38 which extend beyond the end of the pitman, a bearingblock 39 for the shaft 28 being slidably mounted upon said rods 38, anda pillow-block 40 of yielding material, such as rubber, being positionedbetween the bearing block 39 and the end of the pitman. A yoke 41connects the outer ends of the guide rods 38, and a compression spring12 is mounted between said yoke and the bearing block 39.

In the drilling operation known as spudding, the drilling tool 43 issuspended from one end of a drill rope 44, the latter passing over thepulley 20, under a grooved pulley 45 journaled on the fixed shaft 28 ofthe spudder, over a grooved pulley 46 journaled upon the fixed shaft 24constituting the fulcrum of the spudder, the remainder of the rope beingwound upon a bullreel 47 which winds up or pays out the rope as desired.Oscillation of the spudder 26 effects reciprocating longitudinalmovement of the drillrope 44 between the pulley 45 and the tool 43whereby the latter is alternately raised and low ered to effectpenetration of the soil. A retaining plate 48 is adjustably mounted uponthe forward cross-brace 26 and has one edge positioned close to theperimeter of the pulley 45 to prevent the drill-rope 44 from jumping outof the groove in the pulley during the spudding operation.

As hereinbefore stated, the pulleys 45, 46 are journaled on therespective shafts 28 and 24, and they have axial movement on said shaftswithin the limits defined by respective pairs of stop collars 49, 49,50, on said shafts. As is shown in Figure 3, the collars are positionedat each side of the pulleys, and the collars 50 on the shaft 24 arepositioned somewhat farther apart than are the collars 49. Thearrangement permits the pulley 46 to move back and forth to feed therope 44 evenly onto the bull-reel 47 without diverting the rope at suchan angle as to cause it to climb out of the groove in either pulley 45or 46.

The bull-reel 4'7 is mounted upon a shaft 49 that extends transverselyof the machine and is suitably journaled on the girders 10 thereof. Theend portions of the shaft extend beyond its journals, and at one end asprocket 50 is mount ed thereon and connected by a sprocket chain 51with a sprocket 52 which is mounted upon a member 53 journaled on thecountershaft 35, said member constituting one part of a clutch, theother member 54 of which is slidably keyed to said shaft. The clutchmember 54 is provided with a shipper-lever 55 that is pivoted at one endon a support 56 that extends transversely of the frame girders 10, theother end of the shipper-lever being connected by a link 57 to abell-crank 58 that is pivotally mounted at 59 and has an operating rod60, Figure 2, that extends to the front of the machine. The arrangementprovides means for driving the bullreel to wind the drill-rope 44thereon.

The drill-rope is let off from the bull-reel while the driving clutch isdisengaged, the weight of the tool 43 and drill-rope being suificient torotate the reel and its shaft. For controlling the speed of the let-off,the opposite end of the shaft 49 is provided with a brake drum 61 thatis engaged by a brake band 62, one end of the latter being fixedlymounted and its other end connected to a bell crank 63 that is pivotallymounted at 64, Figure 1, and provided with an operating rod 65 thatextends to the front of the machine.

The clutch member 66 of the pulley 34 is adapted to be engaged with theother member 6''! of the clutch, said member 67 being slidably keyedupon the countershaft 35 and operated by a shipper lever 68 that ispivoted at one of its ends on the support 56 and has its other endconnected by a link 69 to a bell crank 70 that is pivotally mounted at59. An operating lever '71 is connected to the bell crank and extendstherefrom to the front of the machine.

In general, the drilling machine is operated in the usual manner, thecountershaft 35 being constantly driven, and the pitmans 29 alternatelyraising and lowering the spudder 26 to reciprocate the drilling tool 43in the drill hole. The feature of the double pitman drive distributesthe drilling strain equally on both sides of the machine frame, and theyielding connections between the pitmans and the spudder act as shockabsorbers to absorb the drilling shock of the drillrope. The absorbingof this shock in the pitrnans instead of in yieldingly mounteddrill-rope pulleys, as has been the custom heretofore, obviates suchrelative movement of the pulleys and drill-rope as would wear the latterand shorten its useful life. The mounting of the pulleys 45, 46 by whicheach of them is permitted limited axial movement assures uniformspooling of the drill-rope on the bull-reel and lessens the chances ofthe drill-rope coming out of the groove in either pulley.

In Figure 5, there is shown a modified form of pitman consisting of asplit bearing block '75 adapted to engage the crank pin of a crank 29, apair of elongate parallel rods 76, 76 secured at one of their adjacentends to the bearing block and having their other ends connected by ayoke 77. At an intermediate position on the rods 75 is secured a plateor support '78 which supports a cushion or block 40 of resilient rubber,and resting against the upper face of the cushion 40 is a bearing block39 adapted to receive the fixed shaft 28 of the spudder. A compressionspring 42 is mounted between the upper face of the bearing 39 and thelower face of the yoke '77 for urging the bearing block 39 yieldinglytoward the cushion 40 Other modifications are possible within the scopeof the appended claims which are not limited wholly to the specificconstruction shown and described.

What is claimed is:

A drilling machine including a mast, a pivotally mounted spudder beam, abull reel, and a drill rope on said reel, said mast having a sheavethereon above the spudder beam, said spudder beam having longitudinallyspaced sheaves thereon, one adjacent the reel and the other adjacent themast, and said drill rope extending from the bull reel about thefirst-named sheave to the second-named sheaves and then over the sheaveon the mast and having a drilling tool on the free end thereof, thesheaves on the spudder beam being mounted thereon for substantialtransverse axial movement, the sheave adjacent the reel being movable toa greater extent than the sheave adjacent the mast to follow the sideplay of the drill rope to maintain the drill rope stretches between thereel and the first-named sheave, between the sheaves on the spudder beamand between the spudder beam and the mast in substantial alignment in avertical plane at all times as the drill rope is wound or unwound fromthe reel.

GEORGE HEINISH. LEO A. KRUPP.

